Door latch and locking apparatus



F. SCHMIDGALL. DOOR men AND LOCKING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31, I919. 1,334,320. Patented Mar. 28, 1920.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2- 1 1 n /n 2 3 I 1 42% 8 M l o Y 1 G s E 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK SCL-IIVIIDGALL, O1? CINCINNATI, OHIO.

DOOR.- LATGH AND LUCIHNG APPARATUS.

Application filed March 31, 1919.

To all err/tom it may conccvw Be it known that I, FREDERICK Sol-3min)- oarm, a citizen of the United States, residii'ig at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door hatch and Locking Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improved latch and locking mocha ism for the doors of cold-storage rooms and similar purposes. One of its objects is to provide mechanism adapted to be imlatched and opened from the interior of the room by direct pressure on a member carried upon the interior face of the door, as for instance by the striking or bumping of a truck against said member. rlnother object is to provide improved latch and locking mechanism. Another object is to provide means to hold the door in closed position against its tendency to rebound when sharply closed, and also to provide adjustable means for that purpose. i inother Oi,- ject is to provide spring tensioned latch and locking means and means to adjustably increase or decrease such tension. My invention also comprises certain details of form, combination, and arrangement, all of which will be fully set forth in the description of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is an outside elevation of a coldstorage room door and door-frame ready to be placed in the Wall of a cold-storage room. With my improved latch mechanism applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, With the latch mechanism in the closed position.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2 With the latch mechanism in its unlatched position.

Fig. l: is a sectional view on line 4 l of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail on line 5 5 of The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention, in which 6 represents a doorand 7 a doorframe connected together by hinges 8. At the opposite side of the door frame from the hinges is a latch keeper 9 having an eye 10 therein.

The latch and locking mechanism carried on the door comprises frame members 11 and 12 rigidly attached to the door. The frame member 11 has a horizontally projecting ledge 14 on which a. latch member 15 rests, and above which latch member is an Epecification of Letters Patent.

other horizontally projecting ledge 16.

Patented Main 23, 1920.

Serial No. 286,289.

A pin 17 projects through perforations in the ledges l-l: and 16 and through a curved slot 18 in the latch member 15 to hold the latch member in pos: ion in the channel between the ledges and 16 With a limited movement relative to said ledges and the frame member 11. Art the rear end of the ledge l-l,

and an integral part of frame 1.1 is a spring housing 19 having a vertical cylindrical or tubular recess to receive and house a coiled spring 20. One end 21 of the spring is engaged by an adjusting nut or collar 22 which is provided with a series of ratchet teeth. 23 set in one direction to engage corresponding ratchet teeth set in the opposite direction and carried by the spring housing 19. A portion of the collar 22 projects below the spring housing 19 and is adapted to be engaged by a pin or spanner Wrench to adjust the collar so as to secure any desired tension of the spring 20 upon the latch. The opposite end 25 of the spring 20 engages a hand lever 26 which is employed to release the latch and open the door from. the outside, and said spring ten sion tends to hold the free end of said hand lever normally pressed against the face of the frame member 11. The hand lever 26 has a square or rectangular eye 27 to receive endwise a squared or rectangular shaft 28 about the lower end of which the spring 20 is coiled. By reason of the engagement of said shaft inthe rectangular eye 27 of the hand lever the said shaft and hand lever move in unison about the axis of said shaft.

The upper end of the shaft 28 seats in a rectangular socket in the member 29 Which is journaled exteriorly in the frame member 12, so that the member 29 also turns With the shaft 28 about the axis of said shaft. The member 29 has a transverse slot 30 in which is seated an adjustable crank arm 3]., which has ratchet teeth on its under face to lock the crank arm to said slot 30, and a set screw 32 serves to force said ratchet teeth into engagement With the bottom face of the slot 30. The crank pin 33 of the crank arm 31 slips over the end of and engages in rear of a keeper 3a rigidly attached to the door frame to prevent the door from rebounding from the door frame when the door is swung to closed position. The crank arm 31 may be adjusted from time to time into close engagement with the keeper 34k, to take up and avoid lost motion.

At its forward or free end the hand lever 26 is provided with downwardly directed pin 35 which engages in rear of a finger 36 carried by the latch member 15, which pin 35, as the hand lever is drawn or forced away from the frame member 11 against the tension of the spring, engages the finger 36 so as to draw the latch member outwardly and rearwardly, by reason of the pin 17 traveling from one end of the slot 18 to the other, and thereby disengages the keeper 9 from the forked forward end 37 of the latch member 15. At the same time the tooth 38 of the latch member 15 is thrown to a position where it enters a recess 39 in the frame member 11 and thereby locks the hand lever 26 and latch member in substantially the position illustrated in Fig. 3 relative to the frame 11 and door 6 so long as the door is in the open position. As the door is returned to a closed position the nose 10 of the latch member 15 first comes in contact with the keeper 9 and tilts the latch member on the pin 17, thereby releasing the tooth 38 from the recess 39, whereupon the latch member 15 and hand lever 26 assume substantially the position illustrated in Fig. 2. At the same time the shaft 28 and crank pin 33 DIOYlllg with the hand lever and energized by the spring 20 engage the keeper 3% to the door-frame.

In order that the door may be conveniently opened from the interior of the cold storage room I provide a bar 42 having one end turned at right angles and engaged in a perforation through the hand lever 26 so that the main section of the bar 42 is movable endwise through a perforation through the door 6 and a frame member rigidly attached to the inner face of the door. A yoke-shaped or loop-shaped actuating member l5 is pivotally held in position relative to the door by means of frame mem her a l. A tongue carried by the mom ier 45 bears against the face of the door to hold the member 45 a short distance away from the face of the door and to limit the pivotal movement of said member 45. The end of bar 42 engages one arm of member 45 and holds it away from the inner face of the door when the door is in closed position as 3 to firmly lock the door illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4. In order to open the door from the interior the member .45 is forced from the full line position ig. f to the dotted line position, which shifts the bar 42 endwise and actuates the hand lever 26 and the latch member 15 and pin 33 to release and open the door. The loop-shaped member 45 and frame member 44 and bar 42 may be employed without change on doors opening right hand or left hand, as the bar 472 may be set to engage either one of the side bars of the loop 45. The member 45 is also in position to be conveniently actuated both by hand, and by bumping a floor supported hand truck against it, to cause the door 6 to be opened from the interior. After the truck has passed through the door, all that required to close the door is for the operator of the truck to swing or push the door with sullicient force to close it, whereupon it will automatically latch and lock itself tightly in closed position so as to insure a minimum escape of cold air from the storage room. Adjustment of the member 33 and the tension of the .pring 20 may be quickly made at any time to keep the door in perfeet operating condition. Shaft 28 may extend to the opposite end of door 6 and having locking members 33 and 34- at each end.

The apparatus herein illustrated and de- .scribed is capable of considerable n1odilication without departing from the principle of my iv ntion.

lVhat I claim is.

l. A latch mechanism for doors comprising a door, a door fran'ie, a keeper rigidly a tached to the door frame, a latch frame *i idly attached to the door, a latch mem carried by said latch frame having a ed end 'to receive and engage the a tooth to engage and lock tho latch ..tire to the latch 'i'ran'ie, said latch memcaving an endwise movement and a king movement relative ,to the latch l .me, and aspring actuated hand lever havi g engagement with said latch member to more and disengage the latch member :i'om its keeper and to lock the latch memand hand lever relative to the latch e until released by contact of the latch member with the keeper.

[1 latch mechanism for doors comprisadoor, a door frame, a keeper rigidly attached to the door frame, a latch frame rigidly attached to the door, a latch memher carried by said latch frame having a forked end to receive and engage the keeper, a tooth to engage and lock the latch relative to the latch frame, said latch member having an endwise movement and a rocking movement relative to the latch frame, a hand lever having engagement with said latch member to more and disengage the latch member from its keeper and to lock the latch member and hand lever relative to the latch frame until released by contact of the latch member with the keeper. a spring to encrgize said hand lever, and means to adjustably tension said spring.

3. A latch mechanism for doors comprising a door, a door frame, a keeper rigidly attached to the door name, a latch frame igidly attached to the door, a latch member carried by said latch frame having a forked end to receive and engage the keeper, a tooth to engage and lock the latch relahea gear) tive to the latch frame, said latch member having an endwise movement and a rocking movement relative to the latch frame, a hand leve carried pivotally relative to said latch frame and having engagement with said latch member to move and disengage the latch member from said keeper and to lock the latch member and hand lever relative to the latch frame until released by contact of the latch member with said keeper, a spring to energize said hand lever, a shaft movable with said hand lever and journaled near the edge of said door, a locking keeper carried rigidly by said door frame at the end of said shaft, and a crank pin carried by said shaft to engage said locking keeper to positively lock the door in closed position.

l. A latch mechanism for doors comprising a door, a door frame, a keeper rigidly attached to the door frame, a latch frame, rigidly attached to the door, a latch member carried by said latch frame having a forked end to receive and engage the keeper, a tooth to engage and lock the latch relative to the latch frame, said latch member having an endwise movement and rocking movement relative to the latch frame, a hand lever having engagement with said latch member to move and disengage the latch member from its keeper and to lock the latch member and hand lever relative to the latch frame until released by contact of the latch member with said keeper, means carried on the inner face of the door operable to move said hand lever to unlatch the door from within, and a spring to energize said hand lever.

5. A latch mechanism for doors comprising a door, a door frame, a keeper rigidly attached to the door frame, a latch frame rigidly attached to the door, a latch member carried by said latch frame having a forked end to receive and engage the keeper,

the latch member and hand lever relative v to the latch frame until released by contact of the latch member with said keeper, a yoke-shaped latch releasing member carried adjustably on the inner face of the door and operably connected through the door With said hand lever to unlatch the door from within, and a spring to energize said hand lever.

6. A latch mechanism for doors comprising a door, a door frame, a keeper rigidly attached to the door frame, a latch frame, rigidly attached to the door, a latch member carried by said latch frame having a forked end to receive and engage the keeper, a tooth to engage and lock the latch relative to the latch frame, said latch member having an endwise movement and a rocking movement relative to the latch frame, a hand lever having engagement with said latch member to move and disengage the latch member from its keeper and to lock the latch member and hand lever relative to the latch frame until released by contact of the latch member With said keeper, means carried on the inner face of the door and adapted to be connected either right hand or left hand operably with said hand lever through the door to move said hand lever to unlatch the door from Within, and a spring to energize said hand lever.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

FREDERICK SCHMI DGALL. 

